The Cost Of Protecting Your Privacy Online

With the Australian Government recently implementing it’s new voyeuristic metadata policy there have been a number of people wondering what this means for their privacy online, and what they can do to limit the governments ability to know every little detail about your life online.

I’ve always lived under the assumption that the government is watching pretty much all communications Australians have on the internet. You just need to look at the NBN, I;ve been told that their data centers all contain giant SANs (Storage Area Network – Disk Storage), which isn’t all that strange for large IT companies, but NBN is an ISP (Internet Service Provider) – they should have lots of networking equipment, not lots of data storage equipment – I wonder what they need it for…

I guess the main difference now is that the government has finally come clean on their data retention plans. So what can you do, and how much does it cost to limit what the government can see you doing on the internet?

So what is it that the Government wants to capture about your internet activities? Here is George Brandis (The man pushing this agenda) has to say.

So how can you stop those prying eyes?

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

The most obvious way to keep your internet traffic private is to use a VPN. Essentially this tunnels all of your traffic through an encrypted link to a server someone else in the world. All your ISP will see is encrypted traffic going between you and the VPN server.

In terms of cost, VPNs aren’t very expensive. If you do a search on Google for Cheap VPN or Best VPN – you will see there are thousands of VPN providers, with most costing anywhere from $3 a month through to over $20 a month. i’m not recommending any services here, but if you do your research you should be able to get away with one that offers you unlimited speed and data for less than $5 a month.

TOR

TOR stands for The Onion Router and is a network of computers that use encrypted tunnels to hide what you are viewing on the internet. TOR is free, but can be terribly slow and isn’t what I would call secure web browsing. I would never enter a password on a site via TOR for fear that is was being logged somewhere along the way.

Encrypted Applications

There are certain types of applications that have built in encryption. As an example WhatsApp (the popular instant messaging app) is encrypted and what’s sent within WhatsApp can’t be seen by your ISP.

You can also use services like Skype or Gmail which are hosted externally to Australia. Anything you send via these applications can’t be seen by your ISP.

Open Wifi

If all else fails you can go to your local library or park and use their free wifi. This isn’t tied to your IP address at home, so anything you send over these networks is a lot harder to trace back to you.

So as you can see, there are plenty of ways to avoid the governments mandatory snooping on your activities online. None of these are illegal and in fact, most legitimate businesses around the world use VPNs, so there is no reason why you can’t too. The kicker with all this is that you, the Australian tax payer, are going to pay for the implementation and operation of this system.

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I’m not a fan of “Big Brother” watching me (hence I only have a fake facebook for use with apps I want to run that require it and while I follow many on Twitter I hardly ever speak on it! No Instagram or Google+ or any other real social media for me), but like you I’m sure it’s been going on for years. I don’t really have anything I want or need to hide from the government and fear that going through all this trouble makes it look more like you have something to hide! Which makes you more of a target. It’s another case of the everyday person like you and I will be exposed, but I’m sure the criminals will still find a way to hide what they are doing. Same with gun control laws. The people that own them legally can register all they want. That doesn’t stop the bad guys from getting their hands on them. I hope some of the terrorists and pedophiles are dumb enough to get caught under these new laws, but it’s probably doubtful.

Other than for specific threats to national security, I see no reason the government needs to collect data from internet users. Kind of scary to think about the government having access to all that personal data. The IRS in the states does not have a good reputation in that area and it would be a concern if they would use that information properly.Paul @ The Frugal Toad recently posted..GiftCardRescue.com $50 Target Gift Card Giveaway

I used to use the Collusion add-on to track how many sites were tracking my digital footprint. You should check it out, it’s a free add on, and it gives you visual data on how many hundreds of sites are stalking you with every click. That being said, I stopped using the add-on after a while, because there wasn’t much I could do about it. But that really is a kicker that the Australian tax payers will be paying for all this government snooping.Anum @Current on Currency recently posted..The Job Search: Realities You Are Forced to Face as an International Student

I really don’t get why people are scared of “big brother” watching. I’d rather the NSA spy on me (which they’re probably not because they’d see me and my fiance texting about nonsense all day and my friends and I about sports) if it prevents some calamity which I believe it does.

So interesting! I think we get watched and our information gets taken and shared a lot more than we even know. I was just watching something the other day about apps that are tracking location and other info even when they shouldn’t be. With so much technology it’s hard to keep yourself protected!Fig recently posted..How To Track Your Spending & Why You Should

Interesting, I didn’t know that privacy laws were changing in Australia.
I always struggle with determining what a healthy balance between government surveillance for our own benefit and an excessive amount of surveillance looks like. It’s a rather tricky scale and I really don’t know where I fall on it.Anne recently posted..How to Spend an Obscene Amount on Groceries – Tips from an Expert

We have the same things happening here in the US and I don’t know that I really mind. It’s not like I’m doing anything bad. Sure, there are private things I don’t want people seeing, but nothing illegal

That’s a scary, but yet important issue to think about. Honestly, I am constantly worrying about the online security, especially because I am not that tech savvy. But I am mostly worried about the hackers etc. and I guess therefore it is totally worth it to hire some tech professionals.Reelika @Financially Wise On Heels recently posted..7 Amazing Budget Friendly Posts of March 2015

Not a fan of “big brother” either. But when you really think about the bigger threats that exist today, it just seems like the lesser evil. I guess if you really want to protect yourself online, there are measures to do so. Your list definitely helps.

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